Mom On The Run

This is my Mamavation post for February 15, 2010.

Two weeks ago I was struggling. Hubby was travelling, I injured my calf, I was PMS‘ing, my weight loss was hitting a plateau… There were so many excuses and reasons to give up. But I didn’t. At the encouragement of the Mamavation Sista’s, I kept on pushing through and this past week I stepped up the intensity of my 1/2 marathon training by running each run FAST and getting up early to swim two mornings this week. I should have gotten injured this week with all the training, but I didn’t – you know why?

Yummy Veggies

I ate. And I ate well. You see, we’re having a Healthy Eating Challenge at work. We’re tracking how many servings of fruits & veggies we eat each day as we strive to meet the amounts reccommended by Health Canada: 7-8 servings for women and 8-10 servings for men. I met the reccommended amounts every day this past week. It wasn’t easy – I’ve eaten an enormous amount of salads, bananas, carrots and other fruits. The toilet and I have been best friends

I’ve trained for, and ran several marathons and half-marathons before, but I’ve never ever paid attention to the role nutrition plays in my training. I figured I was burning tons of calories training and could eat whatever I wanted. I never realized until this week how much fuelling my body properly helps with recovery and keeping my legs & mind feeling “fresh”. Every run this week has felt effortless! In fact, on Wednesday I set a personal best that I shared in my first vlog. I ran 6km at a pace of 5:16/km. I’ve only maintained that pace for that distance once in my life – and that was over 6 yrs ago (when I was much younger, and didn’t have any kids).

The increased running intensity, swimming, yoga and healthy eating MAJORLY paid off this week: according to Wii Fit I lost 4.6 lbs last week!

My weight loss progress

(BTW-here’s instructions on how you can create one of these charts for yourself)

I totally broke through my plateau and I’m well on my way to continuing the journey to my wedding weight! I only have 6 lbs to go! I can possibly finish losing the whole she-bang by our anniversary! Yay!

I couldn’ve done this alone. I know a lot about health, nutrition, training etc.. But I struggle with motivating myself to apply my knowledge. I’m human too. I have stress, emotions, PMS and all that other stuff. I’m so thankful to have all of you helping me! All of the Mamavation Sista’s have been so supportive and inspiring! Reading everyone’s progress, struggles and triumphs each week has helped me in a way that I just can’t put into words. I’m so thankful to everyone for helping me become the best me that I can be! Thanks everyone!

To challenge and inspire you, I’m having a Healthy Challenge!
Read THIS POST to learn more and enter.
Good luck!

PS – Have you entered my SADE “Soldier of Love” CD Giveaway yet?

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As you all know I LOVE LOVE LOVE running!  And I’ve been running a lot lately – so much that I haven’t had time to blog J  Running is my #1 love (well besides my family), though I must admit I love my family more when I’ve been running.  Sunday I ran 10.31k – it felt amazing!  I also loved my family so much more that day (maybe because I got away from them for an hour?). 

It’s been so long since I’ve trained for anything that I’ve forgotten how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Did I mention that I’m training to run the Mississauga ½ Marathon?  Running, strength training, nutrition, rest, recovery, easy runs, hard runs etc… They all need to be carefully balanced when training for an endurance event.  The last race I ran (besides the 10k in September) was the Mississauga ½ marathon 6 yrs ago!  So after Sunday’s hard 10k I decided to run an easy 6k on Monday at lunch.  Unfortunately I hadn’t properly rested my legs (took Sierra swimming Sunday night) and I hadn’t properly refuelled (not enough water, not enough sodium, potassium and carbohydrates to replenish my stores).  Less than a km into Monday’s run my right calf cramped – the contraction was so strong that it caused some minor muscle tearing.  I did Yoga on Tuesday (calling that an active rest day) then ran 5.88k through pain at ½ marathon pace on Wednesday.  By Wednesday night I was limping around the house like a little old lady.  I was in a fair amount of pain. 

The thing is I’m one of those people that when I get an idea in my head, I’m going to do it come hell or high water.  I’m a stubborn little mule.  So I persisted through my training for a few days only to cause more damage.  Yesterday and today I’m forced to rest – I’m supposed to do 10k tomorrow.  I hope that by adding some rest and nutrition pieces to my puzzle that I’ll be able to be back on track next week! 
PS – The other day I got an email from Amanda of UpSpring Baby who told me that she’s listed me as one of her Top ten Fitness Blogs for Moms.  I was listed with some of my heroes, Lisa Johnson Fitness and Workout Mommy.  What an honour!   Thanks Amanda!  (You can follow her on Twitter – she’s @Amanda-Upspring)

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Exercise is great for metabolism right? Well so is all that bouncing around my internal organs do when I run. I go through phases – some months I run a lot, and some months the comfort and warmth of my couch or the cool water of my pool is more appealing. Generally I run more in the Spring and the Fall when there’s nothing else to do. But so far this winter has been very mild and I’ve been running a lot more. With all of the extra running I’ve found that I’m pooping a heck of a lot more and the act of pooping is a lot easier. Now aren’t you glad I shared that with you?

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My goodness!  What a difference a week makes!  Now that I’ve fully recovered from my cracked ribs from my fall, I’m back running regularly again.  I’m amazed at what a difference being active is making on my outlook on life.  Weren’t my posts from October, November and December so depressing?  Holy crap!  I was such a downer – no wonder no one called me, no one else wanted to be brought down!  But I’m back now! 

Work is busy – it’s so awesome!  I love being busy, setting To Do lists, and game plans to accomplish all of my work.  My running is really helping with my feelings of being alert too.  My body is in pain (delayed onset muscle soreness – DOMS), but I like to think of it as the pain of fat melting away.  A gentle pain is good – it tells me my workouts have been hard enough to illicit an adaptive response.  The running has motivated me to eat better too – recovering from my workouts is so hard without the right fuel – I can tell when I haven’t eaten well enough, or rested enough by my running pace.  And my house… is cleaner!  I have more energy and motivation to clean!  The surprising part is that planning and preparation actually leaves me with MORE computer time.  I love my evening computer time – with the exception of Glee, I don’t watch TV.  I hate sports announcers yelling at me, whiny families mis-treating each other, reality shows have lost their appeal… The list goes on.  My favourite shows were the reality shows that had people preparing for an athletic event – the trials and tribulations of training – something I can totally relate to and I haven’t come across too many of them lately.

So I’m starting my own little virtual reality show…. I’m going to be coaching a virtual “Learn-to-Run” program.  My intended audience and participants are the Mamavation Moms from www.bookieboo.com but I’ll set it up so you can also follow along through my health and fitness blog www.lazymama.com if you so choose. I haven’t decided if it’s best run as an email newsletter to participants, or as a forum, a combo of both or what.  Maybe a Learn-to-Run Ning community?  I dunno – I want to find a way to implement it that really minimizes the technical work required to run it, freeing up time to spend motivating and educating.  I have to research the technical side of things before I set it all up.  Basically I want to inspire people and since I love running, and know running and have a Kinesiology degree, what better way is there for me to inspire?  I love the enthusiasm of beginner runners – watching their surprise as they learn what their bodies are capable of doing.  It’s amazing!  Watching Chelle discover running last year was really inspiring. In her words… Woot! Woot!

So yeah – that’s what’s going on with me…

In other news: My mom is doing WAY better!  She’s still in the hospital but is out of critical care and is now in a ward.  She called me from her cell phone that my dad had brought in to her.  Apparently they don’t have patient phones?  I think my dad is just too cheap to pay for the patient phone He didn’t want to pay $0.50 to leave a message on my voicemail from the payphone when my mom was admitted, and instead had my Aunt call me.  LOL!  This apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree… Anyways – my mom and I had a good conversation but she had to stop to catch her breath a few times. Pneumonia is NASTY!  But in a way it’s been good because she hasn’t had a cigarette since Friday and she’s even talking about quitting smoking!!  Which is awesome and I totally support her.  After seeing her on Sunday I truly believe that the Lord didn’t give her a warning, he gave her a second chance.  I really want to support her in any lifestyle changes she decides to make as a result of all of this.

Gosh – I don’t know how to conclude this post – conclusions and closures are always something I have a hard time with.  I hate sayign goodbye at parties – I often just leave.  Not because I don’t want to wish my friends well – it just seems so pessimistic, here’s a hug goodbye in case I never see you again… I don’t like saying goodbye – that’s what funerals are for.  So don’t look for good conlusions and closures on posts, ‘cause you won’t find them J

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This past week has been very stressful and challenging for my husband and I. My husband’s mom has Cancer. She had a hysterectomy in June, began Chemo in August, finished chemo in November and has now begun 6-8 wks of daily radiation. Two weeks ago she lost her balance, fell and spent a week in the hospital so my hubby went up to Ottawa, ON to visit her for 5 days and I got to spend yet another period of solo-parenting. What does this have to do with Christmas stress? Well 1/2 way his 6 hr drive back home my hubby’s engine blew. Gone – according to the Mazda dealership in Belleville he brought it into. A $6 grand expense we just hadn’t planned for with our 3 yr old car.

After hubby’s car ordeal I decided to take my truck in for some routine maintenance that ended up costing us $300 (oil change, engine flush, air filter, cabin air filter etc…). It was a good thing I brought it in because it was discovered that the cabin air filter was missing – not clogged and dirty – missing, as in never ever there. A cabin air filter filters dust, debris and emissions from other cars. They should be replaced every year, but I think this was the first time mine has been checked in the 7 yrs we’ve owned the truck. My routine maintenance has saved my life. Every day because I had no cabin air filter I’ve been sucking in carbon monoxide from the traffic I’ve been sitting in for an hour to and an hour from work each day. I’ve felt light headed, foggy, headachy and have been having an incredibly hard time focussing and functioning at work. Every night I’ve been exhausted – falling into bed most nights when the kids went to bed. I’ve had no energy to do anything – gaining weight, eating poorly, drinking a million coffees everyday and not exercising. I’ve felt amazing over the past week being off from work and not driving in my truck.

Unfortunately being home this week with our dog has brought to our attention that she’s sick. She’s a 10 yr old rottweiler that we rescued when she was 1 yr old – she’s trained for several marathons and 1/2 marathons with me over the years and has kept me company through 2 maternity leaves. Molly has been having bladder control problems that have been controlled by a weekly estrogen pill. WIth everything going on over the past 3 months hubby and I forgot to give her her pills – Molly has been leaking on her doggie bed. No big deal right? Just wash her doggie bed and give the dog her hormone pills. It’s not so simple because her pee spots are tainted red – she has blood in her urine. Yesterday and today I took her out for a run and when she peed on the grass her pee was dark red – almost pure blood. Molly’s kidney’s are failing and because of our car expenses we’re not sure what to do – we can barely afford a regular physical for her, never mind extensive tests, medications, surgery or even euthanasia for her. Hubby is bringing her to the vet tonight at 5 pm.

With worrying about my MIL, the dog, our cars and the normal Christmas stresses of cleaning, baking and wrapping I’ve been an emotional eating mess. I ate ALL the chocolate turtles + 2 other boxes of chocolate – arrgh! Yesterday and today I tried to redeem myself by running. According to my Nike + I ran 3.93km yesterday and 3.75km today (though both days I ran the exact same route).

Tomorrow (or tonight) we hope to pack up the car to head to trek up to Ottawa to see my MIL for Christmas. Though with everything going on it would make more sense to stay home with the sick dog, I just couldn’t live with myself if she took a bad turn and we missed out on seeing her at Christmas. I’m going to bring my running gear and try to eat as healthy as possible – though that’s always hard when being away from home. Here’s to a better week next week!

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I don’t even know where to start with this post. What I do know is that I have a ton of thoughts and ideas swirling around in my head about yesterday’s very heartfelt and honest post – this post may be a an extention of that one so read on if you dare….

When my hubby travels I miss him – I miss him so much that I mourn him. Apparently I love him very very much. I say apparently because when he’s around I don’t really notice how much I love him, but when he’s gone I do notice. It’s really the only way to explain how down in the dumps I feel when he’s away. It’s funny that way isn’t it? When our hubbies are around we hate them for being so lazy, unhelpful etc… but when they’re gone you truly figure out how helpful they are and how much you miss their companionship.

Yeah so that’s how I’ve been feeling lately. Like I’m in mourning.

Everyone thinks I need help with the kids. But really they’re awesome – totally awesome. They are so used to my hubby’s travelling that they are very helpful. Yes – they’re a lot of work, but we’re so settled into a routine that looking after them is the easy part. Dealing with the loneliness, mourning and feelings of being abandoned is the hard part. That’s the part that no one understands. Dinners are when I feel the most low. It’s so hard to eat a third meal in the day without adult campanionship. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because before kids and before my hubby started travelling a lot he and I bonded quite a bit over our dinners out? (I really wish we had saved that money instead but hindsight is twenty-twenty now isn’t it?). Not having any free time to explore my hobbies (running, fitness, scrapbooking, shopping) is also hard. So the combination of stress, loneliness and lack of free time turns my brain to grey cloudy skies.

It’s the clouds that keep me from reaching out. They interfere with rational thought processes. I really don’t know how to ask for help because I don’t need someone to pick up milk, go get gas for my car or anything. I need someone to be my friend. Yanno – randomly stop by to say “Hi” with chocolate of course because a good friend knows that chocolate cake, or chocolate chip cookies makes everything better.

I’m slowly sorting myself out.. Doing stuff to help myself, yanno? Doing the stuff that would make me forget about being lonely when the hubs is away. Joining clubs and getting into a regular routine. Spending an evening/week doing something for myself and hiring a babysitter to watch the kids when the hubs is away. I think that’ll help. I’ll feel better in so many ways… I’m thinking of getting a treadmill, and training for a half marathon with a Running Room training clinic. I’ve already done a ridiculous number of half marathons so I totally know what I’m getting myself into.

Sigh – this stuff is so hard. Loneliness is hard. I love my girls but they’re still little – not really best friend material…. yet. I know they will be one day, but for now I’m their mother.

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